To Take Peace From the Earth
by Hero'sBaneBlade
Summary: As the Covenant Loyalists make a final stand on Installation 07, an ancient evil rises below the ring's surface and the UNSC hurls men at the defenses around it. Lives will be lost, blood will be spilled, and War will reign.


"_Jacobs! Rorikson! __**Move!**_"

_Sirens howled in the dark as men crawled under barbed wire and drove through mud pits. Lights flashed, gunfire tearing through the night._

"_Feet-first into hell maggots!"_

"_**Sir yes sir!**_"

_A black shape in the night stood on the gantry howling. The man's face lit up as a burst of rifle fire light up the gantry._

_His hands were slick with mud and sweat as he hauled himself up the final rope, only for the nightmare man to shove him, sending him back down, sprawling in the mud. The fall ripped the air from his lungs, caking his short hair in muck. His arm strained as he grabbed the rope again and hauled himself to the top._

"_What are you?"_

"_**ODST!**_"

Finn "Paladin" Rorikson woke with a start to sirens on the ship. The _UNSC Hand of Tyr_ was on final approach with the rest of Battle Group Delta. A final approach to the hell that awaited them all.

Installation 07.

He rolled on the window ledge he'd slept on, standing and moving across the chaos of the bay to where the rest of his squad stood, adjusting gear and prepping weapons.

"Paladin, you ready?"

"Are we ever Jason?" he joked, strapping the last plate to his suit.

"Fair." Jason al-Assad grinned, strapping a pistol to his harness.

A red light flashed through the bay, a loud voice ringing through the intercom speakers, calling the ODSTs to their pods.

Finn stepped into his. The familiar controls felt right in his hands as the pod door sealed and the comms blared to life with a burst of static.

Jason's voice broke the static "Team check, sound off! Paladin!"

"Ready boss!"

"Ashley!"

"Ready to go."

"Leaky?"

"My name is Anthony, and yeah. Here."

"Grace?"

"Ready."

"Right then! We've all seen the briefing but here it is again in case! We touch down first to secure a landing zone! The Covvies are dug in, so it's gonna be rough! Stick with the team!"

The light outside the pod flashed green, the comms roared with the three beep countdown, and for the fourteenth time, the floor opened, and Finn Rorikson, Hyena Squad, fell through the sky in a tin can, watching the ground below grow closer as flak ruptured the air around him.

Everything was black, then blue, then red as shells exploded around the pods. His hands were numb on the controls, experience would never beat the raw fear of the drop.

"_Ten seconds to impact_."

He felt the howl of the fall more than heard it, felt the roar of the battle, and then the jarring crash of the pod making landfall. The pod's light went green, the seals depressurized with a cloud of steam and a hiss loud enough to burst eardrums as he hit the button on his helmet. His visor snapped shut as the door burst out, and he lept into the battle with the words ringing in his ears;

_Feet-first into hell. ODST._

Then everything exploded.

Gun.

Stock.

Stone.

The butt of his shotgun cracked against his shoulder as he fought to keep his grip on it. His armor clattered against stone as he was tossed unceremoniously to the dirt.

"This is ODST 13567, Paladin to Hyena Squad, Hyena Squad come in!"

He gasped, coughed once, and struggled to his feet. Plasma burned the air, smog filling his vision as his visor lit up. Ahead of him, three figures in green forged into a furrow from shellfire and he rushed to them as one turned and waved him forward.

"C'mon Paladin, we don't have all day!" Jason raised his battle rifle and let off a burst of fire,

He pushed across the mud and stone, diving into the trench as a Banshee shrieked overhead, a green fuel-rod exploding behind them.

Grace raised her sniper rifle, sighting something in the smog, and the rifle sang it's death-song.

"Gotcha!" she screamed over the roar of battle. On the visor, more green moved in the smog, vague shapes of other squads struggling through the mud.

"Jason! Who are we missing?" he shouted as he raised his shotgun. A drone buzzed overhead, and his slug tore through its body, spattering his armor with green blood.

"Ashley got hit off course. VISOR says she's unconscious in her pod, half a click behind the first enemy trench!"

"Shade turret! Get down!" Tony pushed the two of them into the mud as blue plasma ripped through the air. Grace fired again, the roar of the rifle bringing them back to the fight as the four ODSTs forged through hell. They knew nothing of the battle, only that they had to break the Covenant lines, had to force the enemy back so the UNSC Marines could make landfall. They ducked into a shell-hole as a group of Ghosts flashed across the battlefield, plasma cannons buzzing. Green broke the smog as other ODSTs pushed up around them. Green and pink flashes followed them, Grunts and Jackals fighting back as they hit the first Covenant lines. His shotgun roared and a methane tank exploded in a pink starburst, killing the Grunts around it. The blue flash of a point defense gauntlet called out a Jackal and Tony's SMG buzzed, tearing the bird-like alien down.

They pushed up. Rockets burst around them, bullets tore the ground to shreds as the first Marines came down behind them, Pelicans dropping Warthogs and Mongooses to the mud. A Falcon soared overhead, all three guns buzzing as it brought down a Banshee. Somewhere to their left, a massive boom shook the ground as the first Scorpion hit the fighting.

The green highlight glowed again, a sealed ODST pod half embedded in the dirt and mud. They pried it open with their knives. Ashley was slumped over the seat, limp and unconscious and they pulled her out as battle raged around them. She groaned as Jason and Tony dragged her under the cover of a destroyed Wraith, taking shelter from the killzone around them.

"Paladin! Shade Turret on our left, take it!"

He ran, boots in the mud. His shotgun roared twice as an Elite loomed out of the smoke and smog, energy sword raised. Flesh hit dirt and his gun roared again, tearing a Grunt from the turret, perforating the seat. He grabbed the handles, spinning the Shade and letting loose a wave of plasma into the smoke before sticking a borrowed plasma grenade to the console and diving from the turret.

Ashley was awake, her visor open as she stared dizzily at the smoke in the air when Finn dropped back into their foxhole.

"You good Ash?"

Her eyes rolled around, pupils dilated to hell and back.

"Peachy,"

He laughed and stood, his shotgun roaring as he followed the rest of Hyena Squad out of the ditch. Behind him, a marine in a medic uniform dropped into the space he had left and began to treat the concussed ODST. The smoke closed up behind him and he followed the green highlights into the battle. An Elite gave a war cry as his shotgun brought it down. Grace's rifle roared, Tony and Jason pushing forward, their guns buzzing. Marines shouted over the gunfire, vehicles roared through the mud, and then they heard what they'd waited for.

"The Covvies are retreating!"

They cheered and drove forward, cutting down routing enemies, then pulled back. As the firing stopped, the smoke and dust cleared and Finn snapped up his visor as they returned to the landing site. Pelicans flew overhead as marines unpacked barricades and set up prefab watch towers, gantries, and walls. Others stacked supplies and ammunition. As the squad split to go eat or rest, Finn pulled off his helmet and hunkered down in the shadow of some ammo crates, taking the opportunity to sleep.

_Her fists beat against his chest as she screamed at him. Crimson hair flew and he staggered back a pace._

"_Angie I'm sorry. I have to do this."_

"_You said you were going homeguard, same as me!" ODST! You enlisted as a fucking helljumper!"_

"_It was the right choice! I'm going to do more than sit around on Earth and wait!"_

"_So now I'm not good enough? I'm a coward for going homeguard?"_

"_Angie I didn't say that-"_

"_You didn't have to! We're done Finn. Get out of here._

"_Angie-"_

"_Fuck. Off."_

"Yo Paladin! Get the fuck up!"

Finn groaned and rolled over as Jason slapped his arm. The sound of shells and high powered machine guns mixed with the howl of Banshees and plasma fire in the distance. Finn dropped into a hastily dug trench in the mud, groaning as cold water splashed up onto his legs.

"What the hell's going on here?"  
"Covvies launched a counterattack a few minutes ago. We're still trying to scramble our birds and we're been hit by four Banshee runs so far. They bombed the command center and the fuel reserves." Jason popped up over the rim of the trench and let off a quick burst of gunfire before ducking back down.

A noise like waves breaking against the shore echoed around them as a squad of Wraiths pushed up the center, escorted by lighter Specters and Ghosts. Tracks bit earth behind them and a Scorpion's main gun roared, sending one of the Wraiths to pieces in a starburst of deadly light. Machine guns buzzed as marines began to finally return fire on the attacking Covenant. A Falcon lay abandoned on its pad, the two gunners dead while boarding, the pilot slumped over the controls with a plasma burn on his chest. Banshees screamed overhead, dropping fuel-rods into the UNSC lines. Green light burst up and marines scattered as the methane stench of the blasts filled the air. A group of Phantoms soared in overhead, their modified bottom cannons spewing a noxious blue gas. Tony was the first to notice, clipping the HazOP filter to his helmet and pressing the button to seal the headgear.

"Gas attack!" he shouted. Finn and Jason followed suit, attaching their filters and shouting, spreading the word down the trench. Marines strapped on their own masks as the blue gas settled on the trench. Screams echoed through the air as the marines that had been too slow came in contact with it, the gas burning skin and filling the lungs with fluid. Plasma burst around them as Grunts and Elite rangers stormed the trench. An energy sword flashed at Finn's head and he ducked, pulling his knife and plunging it into the Elite's stomach. He twisted the knife and spun, cutting down a Grunt as it raised it's gun to fire on Tony who struggled against another Elite further down the trench. Above them, Grace's rifle sang it's death-song and the Elite collapsed, it's head splattered against the trench wall.

An Elite shouted something into his wrist comms and the attackers pulled back as suddenly as they'd come, disappearing into the blue smog as it faded. The roar of guns stopped and the last Banshees fled the sky above. Silence settled over the battlefield.

And all was still.


End file.
